My previous posts about my experiences eating in Hong Kong have pretty much been focused on what I can’t eat. So let me be a bit more positive and tell you a bit about what I did eat. For starters, the staff at my hotel (the Luxe Manor) were wonderful. They serve a delicious buffet breakfast, which, between the eggs, nuts, fish and lactose, there isn’t a whole lot for this Allergian to eat (but, of course, at no fault of theirs). But I love pancakes. So when I spotted those delicious little pikelets eyeing me, I just had to get me some of that. Problem was that they were sitting there next to the selection of pastries, some of which contained nuts. I spoke to one of the waitresses there (who again didn’t understand my Chinese nut translation sign as she didn’t speak Chinese), who arranged for my own personal plate of pancakes and croissants to be collated, heated and brought out to me. They did this each day for the rest of my trip and it was so wonderful of them! And delicious 🙂

Buffet breakfast at the Luxe Manor

My breakfast plate at the Luxe Manor

I mentioned in my post here that I ate a lot of different cuisines while in Hong Kong. Let me speak a bit more specifically. So on the first night we went exploring the food options around our hotel, my dad and I stumbled upon Knutsford Terrace (which funnily enough was directly behind our hotel, yet we discovered it the very (very, very) long way). There is a strip of restaurants of all different cuisines and staff reading you all their delicious options every time you stop to read their menu board. On one night, a few nights into our trip, my brother was finally willing to forego on the Chinese food and enjoy something a bit more Western. We decided on Italian, since it was one of the few options that my family can actually all agree on. Normally. We walked up and down Knutsford Terrace looking at the different Italian restaurants, of which there are a few. Generally, they didn’t seem to have Italian food typical of Italy or Australia, but it seemed to be an Orientalized version of Italian food. This meant there was quite a bit more seafood and pork present, but that was fine – we could work around it. We all decided on Wild Fire, whose menu was a bit more standard. We sat down and chose what we were going to order. I had decided on the rigatoni al ragu, a safe yet usually delicious option. I gave my nut allergy translation sign to the waitress, who went to check with someone, who checked with someone else, who checked with someone else until eventually I think the whole restaurant knew. But to my dismay, someone returned telling me that I couldn’t eat any of the pasta dishes. They used peanut oil for all of them! Wow – something I had not experienced anywhere else, given that Italian is always the safest cuisine for me. The only thing they recommended I have was pizza which, due to the lactose intolerance, I couldn’t have. So, despite our best efforts to all eat together, my family all ate and I watched.

My mum’s risotto at Wild Fire

The good news was – if it weren’t for being rejected by Wild Fire, I would have never found Caliente. Caliente is a Mexican restaurant on Knutsford Terrace, which I frequented twice when in Hong Kong – the first time, after our Wild Fire episode, and the second time, the next night when I told my family they just had to try it (my parents both Mexican food enthusiasts). Caliente has delicious Mexican food – that chicken fajita didn’t even know it was made in China. I was served by a lovely lady, Roni, who (despite not being able to understand my nut allergy translation sign given she was from Nepal) informed me that there were no nuts anywhere in their kitchen. Win! The fajitas were absolutely delicious – 10/10.

Chicken fajitas at Caliente

Chicken fajitas at Caliente

We returned the next night for my brother’s birthday, where my whole family ate too and we all loved our food (and the frozen margaritas 🙂 ). The staff were all very lovely and helpful, and the restaurant had a buzzing atmosphere, including a nice rooftop area. Definitely recommend this place!

Frozen margaritas at Caliente

Luckily, I had some better luck than at Wild Fire when it came to Italian food in Hong Kong. My dad and I had been wandering along the Avenue of the Stars one afternoon when, on our way home, we stumbled upon some Italian restaurants whose menus were a bit more standard. I liked the look of a place called Al Dente. I went in and asked the waitresses (who also happened to be from Nepal) whether they use peanut oil and was glad to hear that they didn’t. So my mum and I went back later that night for dinner (my dad stayed back at the hotel with my sick brother). I decided to order something a bit different, pasta al dente, which was linguine with chicken strips, bell peppers, spinach, tomato, jalapeno peppers and a garlic white wine sauce. It was basically a Mexican pasta, which meant it was combining two of my favourite cuisines – could it be better? It was really really delicious! My whole fam went back there the next night and, in typical me style, I ordered the same thing. And it was delicious again. No way! I even re-created this dish last week at home (see pic below!). It wasn’t quite as good, but it was still really yum!

Pasta at Al Dente

My home recreation

Finally, we went to a Japanese restaurant called Nagoya Japanese, inside Miramir Shopping Centre where my mum, brother and I all ate (and my dad watched due to a serious fish/seafood allergy). I wasn’t sure what to order (given I am still a bit of an amateur when it comes to understanding a Japanese menu), I went with some crispy chicken wings, which had a sweet and spicy batter. The waitress called over the chef to discuss my allergy, who spoke pretty good English. He assured me that the dish was entirely nut free and that he would be extra careful. He also described to me what was in the batter, just to reassure me. I felt very relaxed when the chef came back to check whether I could eat sesame seeds. I think it is a fantastic sign when someone asks me if I can eat sesame seeds. For some reason, people think sesame seeds are nuts. I’m perfectly fine with this confusion, given that their checking so means the person has understood my allergy completely and is being overly cautious. That’s what I like to hear. So I ate my chicken wings. And they were absolutely delicious. Don’t they look it? There you have it folks – I visited three continents in the space of 6 nights. Not a bad effort for a fussy Allergian, hey? Know of any other good non-Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong? Share your recommendations below! Until next time… どうぞお召し上がりください The Allergian Abroad

Hong Kong was a very interesting place. Not at all what I was expecting. The only other place in Asia that I have visited is Thailand, and expectedly, HK was completely different.

I did have certain assumptions about HK, which I think are more appropriately attributed to mainland China. I live in Australia, which has a huge Chinese population and a big Chinatown in the CBD, so China wasn’t an entirely foreign place. My fam and I stayed at the beautiful Luxe Manor hotel, just off Nathan Road, which was a great location as we were in the middle of everything. Heaps of shopping (though predominantly not the sort of shopping that my yet-to-start-full-time-work budget could support), food, tailors, street vendors and, above all things, people.

Luckily, HK has some great markets to offer another dimension of shopping – my fave was the Ladies’ Market in Mong Kok (which also had some cheaper local clothing stores lining the streets), and I also enjoyed the famous Temple Street Night Market.

Ladies’ Market, Hong Kong

Temple Street Night Market, Hong Kong

Apart from the shopping, other things to do in Hong Kong include:

(a) visiting the Peak for an epic view of the HK skyline.

The Peak, Hong Kong

(b) riding the longest outdoor escalator in the world (about 800 metres long) – make sure you walk around at each interval in the escalator to see the area!

(c) going on the Ngong Ping cable car – this is a 25-minute cable car ride through the mountains. It is definitely the coolest cable car I’ve ever been on.

Ngong Ping cable car, Hong Kong

(d) visiting the Tian Tan Buddha (at the top of the Ngong Ping cable car) – climb the 268 steps to reach the big Buddha and have an awesome view!

Tian Tan Buddha, Hong Kong

(e) visiting Disneyland Hong Kong or Ocean Park for some fun.

(f) visiting the Avenue of the Stars at the harbour, which is the HK equivalent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame – from here you can also view the beautiful harbour and skyline.

(g) watching the lights show, ‘A Symphony of Lights’ on the harbour – every night at 8pm. The best place to watch it is on the Avenue of the Stars, near the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

Harbour, Hong Kong

(h) going on a harbour cruise, where you can see the different islands that form HK, as well as fishing villages.

Now, more importantly, let talk about food.

By the time we had arrived at our hotel from the airport, I knew that I would be fine for the next 6 days. There were 7/11s on almost every corner (literally, like 3 in one small street) and McDonalds/KFC/Burger King were just as prevalent. Phew. I might not eat particularly well, but I certainly wouldn’t starve. There were lots of Marks & Spencer supermarkets too, although most of their products say ‘not suitable for nut allergy sufferers due to manufacturing methods’.

The problem with Hong Kong if you are travelling with multiple people who wish to eat different foods is that we couldn’t seem to find (although that wasn’t due to lack of trying) many typical “food court” venues as Australians may understand it (the only one we found was at the Ngong Ping cable car, however it was pretty much only Asian cuisines). Every mall had food, but these comprised solely of restaurants that spanned across numerous floors where (obviously) you couldn’t bring outside food in. Even where referred to as a “food loft”, we excitedly expected a group of take away places with lots of tables and chairs, but this was unfortunately not the case. This made it extremely difficult for my family to find a place we could all eat – me, with all my dietaries; my dad – anaphylactic allergy to fish; my mum – a vegetarian; and my brother – a vacuum cleaner, willing (and keen) to eat almost anything and everything.

I stumbled upon two areas in particular that housed a lot of different cuisines. Elgin Street on Hong Kong Island (and the surrounding streets in SoHo) is filled with restaurants of all different cuisines – there were so many options to choose from. However, the food in this area is generally quite expensive. I went with the Mexican option, since it’s my fave.

Greek restaurant on Elgin Street

Italian and French restaurants on Elgin Street

Spanish and Italian restaurants on Elgin Street

Mexican restaurant on Elgin Street

We also discovered a strip of restaurants behind our hotel, Knutsford Terrace (what an ironic name), comprising all different cuisines with nice outdoor terraces. When you walk along the strip, look at the menu boards rather than the actual restaurants, as we discovered that some restaurants were hidden away inside buildings behind. My fave restaurant there was on the third floor of a building behind, so you don’t want to miss out on a winner!

Strip of restaurant terraces on Knutsford Terrace

Building on Knutsford Terrace with restaurants on all floors

Overall, in Hong Kong, I came across Greek, Spanish, Italian, British, American, Moroccan, Mexican, Indian, Thai, Nepalese, French, Japanese, Korean, Vegetarian and plenty more cuisines. There is something for everyone, you just have to find it! Though predominantly the food is Asian in some form or another, I did manage to eat 4 different cuisines in Hong Kong, which is a great turn out for me! I ate Japanese (once), Mexican (three times), Italian (twice) and American (ok that doesn’t really count).

I did, however, often resort to good ol’ Maccas, which was usually when we were out touring and had a late lunch (and the effort of looking around was too high given our hunger levels). I ate way more Maccas than I’d like to admit, and I neverrrrr eat it at home. Nevertheless, it’s always an option, and a reliable one at that!

Therefore, if you are travelling to Hong Kong with friends or family who have different dietary requirements, be prepared to eat in shifts. Often, 2 or 3 of us would eat in one restaurant [hungrily eyeing off the other people’s foods], and then the rest would eat in another. Luckily, restaurants didn’t seem to mind if only some of us ate.